


There Is A Better World

by Coraleeveritas



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M, Post - A Dance With Dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-24
Updated: 2014-03-24
Packaged: 2018-01-16 21:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1362676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coraleeveritas/pseuds/Coraleeveritas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rescuing Sansa Stark comes at a cost.</p>
<p>Written for the Shuffled challenge around Asleep by The Smiths.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Is A Better World

**Author's Note:**

> So this is yet another fic for the Shuffled challenge, this time based around Asleep by The Smiths (lyrics at the end). It's also one of the saddest pieces I've written and my usual fluffiness is nowhere to be found in here. 
> 
> A big 'thank you' to YellowDelaney and her amazing abilities with angst for reading this over for me, I truly appreciate her comments and reassurances that this whole idea wasn't nonsense. Also thanks to RoseHeart, as usual, for generally being brilliant and supportive.
> 
> Anything recognisable does not belong to me, I'm only preparing myself for the worst should GRRM do anything to hurt my favourite characters in TWOW.

There was no pain. 

That was the first thing Brienne realised. And since she had been in pain for so long, the absence of any kind of feeling could only mean one thing; the cold grip of the Stranger was finally closing in on her. 

She had barely felt the dagger slip through an unseen gap in her gifted blue armour, a lucky lunge from a dying man still focused on protecting his auburn haired charge from the invading Lannister forces rather than the blood running through his fingers.

Blood. 

There was so much of it now. 

Who knew she could lose so much and still recognise the same green eyes that had been haunting her every step for too many moons to count. 

They had ridden out from the Riverlands side by side but in near silence, a twice dead Catelyn Stark attempting to build a wall between her and Jaime higher and wider than any of The First Men could have ever hoped to achieve. 

There would be no homecoming for Sansa if they ever found her, too many people had died, and not only in The Vale, but she was their last chance at honour. A way of preventing what had been lost through a mad king and a resurrected lady from staying that way forever.

Brienne's eyelids were growing heavier with every rushing beat of her heart. Her thoughts fading away as the motion called her sweetly to sleep, like her favourite songs had helped ease her into dreams as a child. _Sing me to sleep_ , she prayed to the same gods who had never listened to a single one of her hopeless prayers before, but she was becoming so tired there was near nothing left but the knowledge that by the time the sun next rose, she would be gone.

Though, for now, the only song presented to her was coming from the knight kneeling at her side. Jaime was crooning, something familiar but just out of reach, his words berating her for not holding onto the stubbornness that had accompanied them on their earliest journey. He was attentive, gentle even, trying to stop the inevitable, far more than she deserved after knowingly leading him into a cave filled with the scent of bloodlust and vengeance hanging heavy in the air. He could have left her, to be raped, to the bear, to the Brotherhood, but time after time he had placed himself in the path of danger.

For her? 

For the sake of honour?

Maybe there had never been much of a difference.

Sansa was hovering behind him like the Maiden herself had been granted leave from the heavens, her blue eyes swimming in unshed tears, skin so pale Brienne thought she might faint. They had only just gained her trust and Brienne wanted to reassure her everything was going to be all right. Jaime would not go back on his oath to take the girl north, not if she could find the breath to ask him to swear it again.

His song changed as Sansa sniffled, another bear forcing Brienne to try and find the strength to move. She had never wanted her friends, the word no less unfamiliar for not being spoken aloud, to feel remorse over her knightly deeds, but now, deep in her slowing heart there was a strange sense of contentment that everything was coming to an end. 

Brienne attempted to pull herself up, to ask for his word, but all that left her mouth was a whisper.

"Sing me to sleep."

"No", Jaime snapped, placing her freezing hand between gold and skin as if the touch alone could work a maester's miracle. "I forbid you to die, wench."

"My name is..."

"Brienne", Jaime murmured, as soft as a lover's caress. "I know."

She realised then that she had spent far too long pushing away the reasons why she didn't want to wake up on her own anymore. If she had not loved him, then there would have been no need to share in the dangers The Brotherhood posed, but she also knew it was too late for Jaime to stop her from doing anything.

"Jaime", Brienne tripped over her tongue, feeling the cold in her limbs give way to a vast nothingness. A shiver ran down her spine, the last one she would be allowed to feel, and suddenly there was no time left for regrets or apologies. 

_There is another world, there is a better world. Well there must be..._

 

Jaime would burn her body, as demanded by the knights of The Vale, but he was allowed to bury Oathkeeper and her bloodstained armour, one hand taking hold of Sansa Stark's silently shaking shoulder as they gazed into the near empty grave. Although he felt Brienne's loss more than he could admit, he did not allow himself any show of emotion until the sun had long gone from the sky. 

Though one thought remained as the moons came and went, as he protected and delivered the Stark girl into her remaining brother's care at The Wall.

Why must he always fail the ones he loved?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)
> 
>  
> 
> "Asleep"
> 
> Sing me to sleep  
> Sing me to sleep  
> I'm tired and I  
> I want to go to bed
> 
> Sing me to sleep  
> Sing me to sleep  
> And then leave me alone  
> Don't try to wake me in the morning  
> 'Cause I will be gone  
> Don't feel bad for me  
> I want you to know  
> Deep in the cell of my heart  
> I will feel so glad to go
> 
> Sing me to sleep  
> Sing me to sleep  
> I don't want to wake up  
> On my own anymore
> 
> Sing to me  
> Sing to me  
> I don't want to wake up  
> On my own anymore
> 
> Don't feel bad for me  
> I want you to know  
> Deep in the cell of my heart  
> I really want to go
> 
> There is another world  
> There is a better world  
> Well, there must be  
> Well, there must be  
> Well, there must be  
> Well, there must be  
> Well...
> 
> Bye bye  
> Bye bye  
> Bye...


End file.
